Esters hydrogen-bonding effects

The most frequently encountered hydrolysis reaction in drug instability is that of the ester, but curtain esters can be stable for many years when properly formulated. Substituents can have a dramatic effect on reaction rates. For example, the tert-butyl ester of acetic acid is about 120 times more stable than the methyl ester, which, in turn, is approximately 60 times more stable than the vinyl analog [16]. Structure-reactivity relationships are dealt with in the discipline of physical organic chemistry. Substituent groups may exert electronic (inductive and resonance), steric, and/or hydrogen-bonding effects that can drastically affect the stability of compounds. A detailed treatment of substituent effects can be found in a review by Hansch et al. [17] and in the classical reference text by Hammett [18]. 

C Yamagami, M Yokota, N Takao. Hydrogen bond effects of ester and amide groups in heteroaromatic compounds on the relationship between the capacity factor and the octanol-water partition coefficients. J. Chromatogr. A 662 49-60 (1994). 

Polyamides. The next two compounds are the amide counterparts of the esters listed under item (4). Although the values of AH j are less for the amides than for the esters, the values of T j, are considerably higher. This is a consequence of the very much lower values of AS j for the amides. These, in turn, are attributed to the low entropies of the amide in the liquid state owing to the effects of hydrogen bonding and chain stiffness arising from the contribution of the resonance form... 

Imoto and co-workers have also studied the pA values of substituted thiazolecarboxylic acids and the alkaline hydrolysis of their ethyl esters, each in three relative positions (2-B-4-Y, 2-B-5-Y, and 5-II-2-Y). In the case of the pA values, the p-values are far from constant, varying from 0.83 to 2,35, This variation is likely to be due to the intervention of tautomeric equilibria and of hydrogen bonds. The /3-ratios for the three sets of ester hydrolyses are roughly constant (0,61-0.73), and, assuming that the introduction of two heteroatoms leads to cumulative (multiplicative) effects on the transmission, this result is of the same order of magnitude as the product of the and values discussed above, i.e. 1.0 and 0.6, respectively. The lowest value for the pA (0,83) for the 2-R-5-COOH series is also of the same order of magnitude. All the available reaction constants are summarized in Table VI. 

The effect of a substituent may be substantially modified by fast, concurrent, reversible addition of the nucleophile to an electrophilic center in the substituent. Ortho- and para-CS.0 and pam-CN groups have been found by Miller and co-workers to have a much reduced activating effect on the displacement of halogen in 2-nitrohaloben-zenes with methoxide ion [reversible formation of hemiacetal (143) and imido ester anions (144)] than with azide ion (less interaction) or thiocyanate (little, if any, interaction). Formation of 0-acyl derivatives of 0x0 derivatives or of A-oxides, hydrogen bonding to these moieties, and ionization of substituents are other examples of reversible and often relatively complete modifications under reaction conditions. If the interaction is irreversible, such as hydrolysis of a... 

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